I can’t hear him at all anymore. He’s too far away. But he’ll be all right. Just needs to get that Shard from Zulf and come on home. The Calamity hit the Tazal Terminals hardest of all. It’s something to think about. Here, in Caelondia, where it was only the four of us, we still didn’t take the worst of it. You gotta wonder what happened to the Ura. You know why Zulf went back there. The place was his home. All his old friends and family were there. Taken by the Calamity. Zulf must be there all alone, just waiting.

Heh. You know what’s funny? Zulf’s waiting…We’re waiting…The Ura, the animals…All of us are waiting…for a Kid. Look around. There’s not much left to do here in the Bastion I’m afraid. So why not tell each other stories to pass the time, right? But Zia…there’s another reason I’ve been telling you all this. There’s something I want you to understand. When the Kid brings back that Shard, the Bastion will be complete. This disease the Ura planted here will go away. What happens to Zulf will no longer matter. Caelondia will be whole again. Everything will be back to normal. Everyone will be all right. The problem is…we’ll all be gone.

Oh we’re not going to die. It’s more like…All of this will just…stop. Things will go back to the way they used to be. That’s the power of the Bastion. This whole place…is a living record of the times before the Calamity. The Cores, the Shards, they remember…The way things were…before this story. Good times, right…? You’d be your old self again. Think of all those times that didn’t go your way…All of life’s little setbacks…Imagine if you could have another go at them. No mistakes. Anyone you’ve ever hurt…Everything you’ve ever done…you could do it over. And wouldn’t that be grand. Wouldn’t you agree…? Well…I guess there’s nothing more to say.

Oh who am I kidding. Look…There’s something else…a confession. How come I know so much about the Bastion? Well I designed the place, but that’s beside the point. There’s one problem with a place that sets things back to a bygone time…

…You can’t test it.

So you’re probably wondering, if the Calamity happened already…What’s to stop it from happening again, after the Bastion does its thing? The answer is…I don’t know.

You’re wondering if there ain’t some other way out this mess. It’s all right. I can tell. But why would you even want another way, unless…

…unless you wanted to stay here…with us…? That’s sweet and all but…I don’t know that I can stick around. The weight of the Calamity…it’s on our shoulders. We can’t just let it go…

The Bastion does have another function, strictly speaking. If ever the Monument blew out and we couldn’t repair it, we could still…evacuate. First we’d round up as many folks as we could carry. Next we’d detonate the Cores…and we’d take off. Away from here. Of course that would mean…no going back. Ever. But then again…That way all of us could…leave the City…Together.

You know Zulf and his countrymen won’t be giving up that Shard without a fight, don’t you? Zulf and the Ura…all they want now is to see the Bastion fall. Zulf dedicated his life to a lasting peace between the Ura and Caelondia. He can’t have imagined the City would try to wipe the Ura out.
Zulf ain’t lost every shred of decency though, has he. He tried to warn you about his plans. He tried to warn the Kid. For Zulf this ain’t a personal matter. It ain’t a simple matter of pride either.
One thing’s for sure. The Ura can’t be happy that the Kid followed Zulf all the way home.

I can see it now. The Kid in one corner, and Zulf in the other…ain’t much of a fight. Don’t you worry though. Once the Bastion is restored…it’ll all be all right. Although…after talking it over like this…guess I’m beginning to have my doubts. The Kid’s probably dealt with Zulf by now.

He reminds me of myself when I was his age. I ever tell you about those days?

Hey, look who’s coming back. I guess he got it.

Well, that’s it, Zia. That’s all I wanted to say. It was good knowing you.

It’ll all be over soon.

Thank you everyone who stuck through with me to the end. That’s the end of The Bastion Story. I hoped you enjoyed it. By the end here it sort of just turned into a transcription of the subtitles, but hey, that’s how it turned out. I can’t really fill in any gaps if the gaps are closed tightly. If you’re wondering why I’m not including the ending, well, Rucks ain’t telling Zia that now, is he? Anyway, tomorrow I’ll put in the last two Proving Grounds and the last Who Knows Where, but for now, this is the end. This is it. But hey, if Supergiant Games does another amazing game like this…

…then maybe I’ll see you in the next one.

They met on the worst day of Zulf’s life. There in the Hanging Gardens he aimed to throw it all away. It wasn’t the first time Zulf had nothing to lose. He was born to a simple Ura couple who didn’t last long before plague took them. He grew up hungry in the tunnels of the Tazal Terminals. So he took to stealing from a Caelondian missionary living there. He once got sloppy with his thieving hands. The missionary caught him, but didn’t rat him out. Instead, he offered to take him in. That missionary raised Zulf like a gentleman. Like he was his own son. Taught him theology, history, and mercy. When the missionary passed away, Zulf promised to continue his work, to bring about a lasting peace between the Ura and Caelondia.
Zulf started teaching the missionary’s wisdom to any Ura who would listen, and listen they did. He advocated tolerance, and argued that the Ura should atone for the war. He believed the City had much to teach his people. However, Zulf felt he could only do so much in the Tazal Terminals. He needed Caelondia to know the Ura had changed. He decided to do what the missionary did many years before. He left the City of his youth to brave a savage land. The journey was hard. But he knew how to fend for himself. And then at last, Zulf saw the Rippling Walls on the horizon. He endeared himself to City folks straightaway. And in turn he fell in love with the City and its people. One, in particular.
This young lady was fascinated by the Ura, but she never met anyone like Zulf. She told him she knew all the City’s best-kept secrets. The Hanging Gardens was their favorite spot. It was there that Zulf clasped her hands and proposed in proper Caelondian style. He celebrated with his friends long into the night. Joy and revelry like you’ve never seen. Too bad he couldn’t remember it all. He woke up alone underground inside the Ura-Caelondian War Memorial, built like an Ura den. But something was wrong. He emerged from that hole in the ground…into a waking nightmare. Everything that wasn’t gone was twisted upside down. The world was frozen. Air thick with ash. What few faces he saw in the street stared back at him with gray and vacant eyes. He found his wife-to-be asleep inside her home. But when he reached out to her…she joined with all the ashes in the sky.
And so, Zulf returned to where he proposed in the Hanging Gardens, and there he stood. As if the Gods would answer him.

Tomorrow.  It’ll all be over, tomorrow

Well now it’s personal ain’t it. It’s personal for him. And it’s personal for me. The Ura’s border blockade ain’t much to speak of, but it’s got a nice view. When the Kid lands, He gets straight down to business. The Ura watch, They never saw him coming.
He gets his hands on the care package I sent him. It’s a little something I’d been fixing up in my spare time. The power of the Calamity…right in his hands. It takes a second to warm up, but when it fires, it’s like reliving the past. The Ura can’t stop firepower of that magnitude.
The Ura found a way to keep the Calamity from spreading through Zulten’s Hollow. They got their own Security and everything. Pretty fancy even. Still, they ain’t used to having visitors around. They’ve got these conductors that are all what’s keeping the place together. Break enough of those things and the Calamity rocks slink back into the ground. Those rocks are like tumors. The same kind the Ura planted in the Bastion. Kid’s doing them a favor by getting rid of them.
Well the Ura must be in a panic right about now. Kid’s rampaging through the place with no signs of stopping. They set everything they have against him. They even sic their little Rattle-tail pets on the Kid. Those rodents are just a bump in the road. Barely even slows the Kid down. Kid’s picking the whole place apart, piece by piece. Avenging the Bastion.
By now every Ura from here to the Terminals must know he’s in town. They organize a welcoming committee. Kid returns their greeting tenfold. Most of the Ura’s conductors are squared away in the middle of the Hollow. They’re easy targets. Those Calamity rocks must be eating that place apart from the inside. The Ura keep hanging onto their barricade. After all, their homeland’s not much farther. Some of them are downright bewildered by what’s happening. Maybe they know they’ve lost this. Lost to a kid. They underestimated us. Had us pegged all wrong. Yes our people caused the Calamity. But here we are trying to fix it. That makes us different from our people now don’t it. Shame the opportunity for civilized discourse is over. Suppose old Zulf should have got to know us better. Maybe I should have trusted him. Told him everything I knew. Zulf…the Ura…they have every reason to be angry. Beyond angry. But when all this is over…it’ll all be water under the bridge.
As the hour grows desperate the Ura bring out their big guns. Too bad for them, our guns are bigger still. There’s nothing standing in his way no more. He sees the Tazal Terminals loom large on the horizon. All those dreams snuffed out in the Calamity. We’ll bring them back.

Way out there on the edge of the world…that’s where he finally finds you. But it ain’t like Prosper Bluff this time. Ain’t nothing for this gal to sing about now.
Zia…you weren’t kidnapped. No ma’am. You just had to see what happened to the Ura. To your own people. You had to see if everything Zulf wrote to you was true.

When the Kid came back, with you right behind, he looked at me dead in the eye, handed me an Ura Child’s Drawing, and angrily left to go find Zulf. I put it away without a word because I didn’t [don't] need to see what happened to the Ura. I was[I'm] trying to undo it, remember? When he left, that gave us time to talk. Now that you knew what happened to the Ura, you wanted to know what happened to us. So I told you. And now, here we are. Come full circle. I told you everything you wanted to know. Now it’s your turn. I got a question for you. Sure you didn’t drop that twangy thing on purpose? Just to see if he’d go after you? You wanted to know if we cared.
Well, we do. It don’t mean much, but you’re the closest we got to a family. The Ura, though. They lost everything, didn’t they. But they just keep on fighting like that’s going to bring it all back.

Once the Kid gets that last Shard from Zulf… it’ll all be over.

This is it, folks. We’re on the final stretch.

One last Shard. It’s all we need to put this mess behind us. And Mother what a mess it is. A mess like that could have only been made by hand. It took both Cael and Ura hands, but the mess was larger than anyone could have imagined.
Zulf said the Calamity failed, and he’s right. The Ura stand as living proof of that. At the heart of the Calamity was a simple idea. We never wanted to go to war again. Wanted to rule it out. Make it so that the Ura would never be able to threaten us ever again. We put a lot of folks against that problem. Scientists, soldiers, spies. Even me. We sought solutions far beyond the City. We traveled near as far as the Kid’s going right now. Most of our efforts didn’t bear fruit. Then there was a breakthrough. But it didn’t come from one of our people. It came from an Ura. A brilliant young scientist named Venn.

Venn worked for the Mancers. The sharpest knives in the City’s drawer. With his help the Mancers devised a way to seal the Ura tunnels shut…in a flash. Just like that, every last Ura living in the Tazal Terminals would be gone. This discovery was never to be used, they said…except as a last resort.
But Venn didn’t like being manipulated. He had plans of his own. He sabotaged the Mancers’ little science project. Set it to blow up in their faces. Imagine how Venn must have felt when they finally made him pull that trigger. We’re lucky to be alive.

But remember: The Bastion can fix everything. We just need that Shard. Too bad the Ura ain’t exactly been willing to collaborate on that front.

It’s strange…feels like I’ve told this part a thousand times…

First things first, though…there’s someone we figure needed rescuing. Zia. The Ura fell back, no doubt planning their next move. But we knew ours already. There’s something we had to do before going after that last Shard.

Eh.  The story practically tells itself at this point.  

<–

We tried to stop them. But we needed help.
Our little Squirt, he gets hurt.
Our Anklegator hatchling, she goes down deep.
Our refurbished mechanical bull, it starts falling apart.
Our baby Pecker, he stops flying.
Kid’s hurting bad, and no help’s in sight.
The Ura think they got him…They’re wrong. He gets back up, starts fighting back, harder than ever before.

Somehow, some way, he sends those Ura packing. Problem is…it didn’t matter. Zulf’s plan worked.

We find each other as the dust settles. And then I tell him why the Ura came: To get us back…for the Calamity. It was Caelondia’s master plan to wipe the Ura out. But part of that plan backfired, didn’t it. If only Zulf knew the whole story.
The Shards can put this disease in remission. But there’s only one cure. We need to finish what we started. Now all we need is one last Shard. Kid hands me the harp guitar. What were we to think. They must have got her. Taken her back to her rightful home.

The Ura swooped down from the east. At least now we know the way.

<– –>

Imagine everything you’d need to build a city like Caelondia. Takes hard work and planning. And it also takes Burstone Quarry. The Ura tunnels beneath the Quarry must have softened the blow from the Calamity. It ain’t very much damaged, but there were an awful lot of black spires standing about. Same goes for its natives…Rattle-tails. White, fluffy creatures that dig holes and make a lot of splash while they do it. Some of those rocks they knock out are downright dangerous. We bought the whole place from the Ura on the cheap. Why would the Ura put up with those pests? Rattle-tails ain’t the worst of it either, but more about that in a little bit.
The Quarry came with a lifetime supply of Windbags. Windbags smaller than the naked eye can see are nesting in those rocks. But there was even more to it than that. Not only are these rocks a source of life…We found that the oldest ones…remember things. They’re recording everything, all the time. Taking it all in. No wonder all those beasts were drawn to the Quarry. The rocks were calling them. Keeping the Quarry free from pests turned out to be a problem. The Windbags tended to the rocks, so we had to keep the Rattle-tails at bay. Rattle-tails kept tunneling in to snack on Windbags. Without those Windbags, the Quarry might not have its special qualities. Even Stinkeyes started taking root in here. So many different things took root here. Kid does what others would have, and make life just a little easier for the Windbags.
Now why would the Ura sell off such a…fascinating place? The Ura always were a superstitious lot. Might be the Gods told them the Quarry’s bad news. On top of that, you know the Ura hated anything above ground. Might be the Quarry just got too much sunshine for their liking.
In any case, it’s fair to say the Quarry was a godsend. Those rocks…all polished to a mirror sheen…The largest ones…you know as Cores. A single Core could keep the lights on in an entire City district. The smaller ones…we call them Shards. A Shard’s got a fraction of a Core’s power. Enough to fuel a voyage to the motherland.
Well now the Quarry’s all dried up. These rocks are much too young to be of use.

Remember how I said Rattle-tails ain’t the worst thing in the Quarry? That honor goes to a beast we took to calling…Sir Lunky. Massive thing stomped many of our boys. We just couldn’t get rid of him. Kid tries his best though. The only thing harder than the rocks in Burstone Quarry is Sir Lunky’s head. Anything short of a mortar don’t do much. His big fat rump’s plenty tough too. But so is the Kid. Try as we might, We never could get stubborn old Lunky to leave the Quarry alone.

Then the Kid hears a voice calling from down the hall. Are you all right, it says.
It’s him. I’ve come to warn you, he says. The Bastion…is under siege. Let it fall. You should not go back.
Kid hears him but he ain’t about to be deterred. If that’s the way it is, he says…Then I won’t stop you.

Because my countrymen will.

The next part’s hard to talk about. No matter how many times I try.

<– –>

Can’t rightly call Mt. Zand a mountain anymore. There’s no more mountains now. The Calamity didn’t touch the place. It’s covered in green, that’s all. Jungle’s so thick Kid can’t see one foot in front of him. There’s no place left for the beasts of the Wild to go. That’s why they all came here, to Mt. Zand. Kid hears them, but can’t see them. Has a little trouble fighting off the Lunkheads that greet him. Eventually, he sends them on their merry way.
Those beasts been hoarding all the valuables they could find. Good thing for those beasts, the Calamity saved leftovers. Kid’s got no qualms grabbing them though. We’re only taking back what’s rightfully ours. On that note, We only found their little lair because they found themslves a little Shard. The creatures of the Wild…they’ve been building a Bastion of their own. Best thing we can do for those beasts right now…is put them down quick and clean. Look at it this way — it’s either them, or us. There’s only one kind of mercy left these days. The hard kind. Takes a lot of convincing…and our mortars have to do the talking. But if we win…they win too. Our Bastion, is everybody’s gain, not just our own. Unfortunately…there’s no explaining that to a simple beast.
Those beasts been hard at work, fixing up the place. They’ve rounded up their survivors just like we have. They’ve been searching for Cores and Shards, just like we have. Maybe they’ve thought about turning back. Just like we have. We just really need their Shard. Kid got it fair and square. They don’t see it that way, though. Everything and anything that’s still standing tries to stop the Kid. But like I said, best thing we can do…is put them down quick and clean. That’s the way. He’s done what’s best for them, don’t you worry. Don’t you worry…

We’ll all be better off, once the Bastion is complete. Kid puts the Shard inside. The Monument’s getting better. Zulf sure did a number on it though.
Kid pulls out an old Gramaphone he picked up at Mt. Zand. Suppose it’s true a little song can put things in perspective. Fixed that thing right up, didn’t we. Made these goings-on a little livelier.

Just a couple Shards left. The Quarry’s got to have one, right?

<– –>

Not everything blew up in the Calamity. Why Colford Cauldron here blew up way ahead of its time. The Cauldron boiled over some 300 years ago. They say it filled the skies with ash, and the lakes with molten rock. If you wanted to survive something like that…you had to learn to adapt. So in a way, the beasts of the Wilds…they’re all survivors too. Takes a certain stubborn pride to keep on living in a place like this. Everything that’s still here, they’re either lucky or hardy.As for us? We learned an awful lot from Colford Cauldron. That learning led to some…interesting inventions. The raw power of the world fell right into our hands. Playing with the Cauldron’s fires…became an addiction. It was…different from smashing up rocks or cutting up foliage, to give a little light and watch things burn. Can’t fault our people for their natural curiosity, now can you? Sure we dusted off a good many secrets out here. But we discovered other things we’re better off not knowing. The unforgiving scent of sulfurous dirt. The taste of air so hot it sticks to your lungs. All sorts of awful things crawling underfoot. The more ash we swept aside, the more life we found. Never thought we’d find so much life in all that ash, when Kid picked up that Pecker Nest.
Place is inhospitable as they come. But still we pressed on. After all, when we looked down inside Colford Cauldron…Looked down through all the smoke and flames…We saw in there the heart of the world. The heart now laid bare by the Calamity…We had to have it. As for the Kid, he just has to get that Shard out of there. Too bad taking that thing woke up every last Stinkeye from here to Jawson Bog. Blasted things fill the land as far as he could see. Kid’s thinking he’s got to trek all the way back around the Cauldron. Luckily the Cauldron cooked up a little shortcut for him. Sure, it ain’t the most convenient path…but you take what you can get. Biggest Stinkeye he’s ever seen’s waiting for him on the other side. Well it ain’t polite to stare. Kid pokes it right in the eye, show it what’s what. And where there’s one Stinkeye, there’s always more. Kid lets off a burst of his new firepower to scare the Stinkeyes off. Even so, The Cauldron’s tenants all gather up to bid the Kid a fond farewell. Kid don’t shed any tears for them though.
With a good spyglass, you still can see the Cauldron from the City… …but all the fire’s died out. There’s nothing left of it.

He comes back looking like the inside of a chimney. The Shard worked like a charm. You can hear the Monument’s heartbeat again. Kid shows me the nest he got. They said the Wilds could never be tamed. If only they could see us now. Zia takes the nest off the Kid’s hands, takes care of it until the Pecker inside breaks out. We’re all a little short on friends these days so that’s a welcome sight.

We spotted a Pecker carrying a Shard to Mt. Zand.

<– –>

I’ve said a lot about the Kid but he ain’t the only one wrapped up in all this. What’s he thinking? Well let me see if I’ve got this straight. I only heard it once. Once there was a normal Ura girl. But she wasn’t born in the Tazal Terminals like the rest of her people. She was from Caelondia. Her folks were orphaned in the war, taken in and raised inside the City, on condition they would never return to the Terminals. Ura refugees who came into the City had to stay for life. It was a way to reduce the risk of City secrets leaking out. Her mama passed away from birthing complications, leaving the girl trapped inside that City with no one but her father. Her father was sharper than a Brusher’s pike so he got a job working for the City’s Mancers. His daughter barely saw him. Her father told her nothing of her Ura heritage. He told her nothing of the Mancers. It’s for your own good, he said. She took to studying the arts. Learned more through music than history books. Gained a knack for strings and songs. At first she tried to be like other girls. But her classmates spread word that her father was an Ura traitor selling out the City. One young man stood up for her, or so he led her to believe. He knew much of her heritage, and she grew fond of him. The young man convinced her to take him to her family den to meet her father. Spoke of how he wanted to meet a man from the Terminals. When the young man greeted her father in the Ura’s native language, her father flew into a fit of rage, and threw them out. The young man never told her that the Ura’s native language is not to be used by foreigners; to do so is a terrible insult. It was then that she decided to escape. The two of them could flee the City together, and go to the Tazal Terminals. They would hide inside a garbage bin until it got ingested by a Scumbag, then let him slosh on out of the City for disposal. Her plan almost succeeded. But the authorities were already there when that Scumbag sidled up to the City Walls. The young man had sent the authorities a tip. Told them her father was using her to sell secrets to the Tazal Terminals. She and her father were arrested for treason. But her father got a deal: Return to work for the Mancers, and she’d go free. Before they parted ways for the last time, her father whispered a desperate plea: Hurry home to the den and lock yourself in. She did as she was told. And deep down underground inside that den, she found a journal written in her father’s hand. The next day the door to the den turned to ash. The girl came up for air… and she saw the Calamity all around her.

<– –>

Know how Caelondia became the richest City in the world?  Two words. Point Lemaign. If the Wilds could ever be tamed, it was going to happen right here. But now? The greatest outpost past the City line…is nothin but a freak show. The Army’s Triggers once had the place on lockdown. Kid might as well pick up where they left off. He finds an Army Carbine, still in the hands of the Trigger who once used it. He takes aim down the sights, and Blam, just like my fighting days! Gun like that can even put the Wilds in check. Kid uses it to clear out the place.
Point Lemaign’s seen better days for sure. But it ain’t done. Whole place shudders in a fit. The Grand Rail of Point Lemaign…not only is it still there. It still works…! Of course it’s no longer shipping hides and alloys and spices. But it can give the Kid a lift, all the way to the Shard. Just as long as he can stay clear of the trouble on the tracks. The Grand Rail’s all grown over with things the Calamity chewed up and spat out. Things that don’t appreciate the Kid. Things eager to take back their turf. Kid don’t let so much as one of those things slip by. One of those things happen to not be a plant. Lunkheads settled in like they own the place. With the Carbine in hand, Kid takes aim for its vital spots from behind. Never been easier to stop a Lunkhead.
Kid’s got to keep heading towards the Shard. Takes fancy footwork on the Rail what with Wallflowers coughing fungus everywhere. Only one way to cure a cough like that.
Place used to be closed off but now it’s split open like a rotten Vineapple. Of course the Grand Rail’s seen much more fighting in bygone times. The Ura-Caelondian War, fifty years ago. Doomed to happen, again. It was right here that Zulf’s Ura forefathers decided to mix it up. They didn’t seem to like our being here so far out in the Wilds near their home, so they made their point.
OK so maybe we didn’t get their sign-off on the whole Grand Rail thing. That was bad…The Rail must have shook the Ura to the bone down in those dens of theirs. Where was I now? Oh right. Kid grabs the Shard on the way up. Well the Rail won’t last much longer now that the Kid took the Shard. It’s still got one good run in store for him though. All the rotten wood there on the Rail’s turned it into Swampweed Central. Ever tried dancing side to side while holding your breath? While shooting a genuine registered Army Carbine? While choking on Swampweed? While Peckers trying to prick you in the eye? Well let me tell you…It ain’t fun. But then at last, it’s the end of the line. Should have seen him tiptoe around those Swampweeds in his way. Kid’s got better footwork than I’ve seen in a long time. He hits the end, almost there to the Skybridge. Turns out he’s got company up at the rail station. Waiting for him. Not just another Wallflower or Pincushion mind you. There’s an Ura man standing there at the edge. At first he thinks it’s Zulf. Turns out he was wrong. This…is for you, says the man. Then, wham.
When the Kid comes to, the man’s long gone. But something else is there. The only words Kid recognizes on that parchment are…”For Zia.” Well what’s a Kid to do. He took the Shard. He took the hit. And he took that note.

That note cut straight to the heart of things, don’t it. The note says it plain. Zia – go east to learn the truth about the Calamity, and our people. I’ll be waiting. Sincerely, Zulf.  Zia takes some time to herself, to think. Meanwhile, Kid puts the Shard in the Monument. It ain’t too late to unlock the potential of this place.  The Memorial may be finished, but our part is far from over. While Zia takes some time to herself, the Kid and I talk about the note and what it means. Zulf’s messenger was one of his people. Wonder just how many of them survived. And what exactly Zulf told them. Kid arrives just in time to sample Zia’s famous cooking.  Finding gourmet ingredients ain’t easy these days, but we’ll take what we can get.

The Shards are getting harder to find.

<– –>